Screw Willie Nelson! Here's the definitive version!

[southendmd]

To hell with homophobic Willie Nelson.  

Here is the definitive version of "He Was a Friend of Mine":

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzn8wxs9sI[/youtube]

[Front-Ranger]

Loved the vocals and the harmonica. Thank you, friend!!

[Brown Eyes]

Thanks for posting this Paul!  Dylan is a much, much better musician/poet than Nelson anyway IMO.  A totally different league.

[SFEnnisSF]

I've added this version to the BBM Radio playlist... 

[Lynne]

Thanks, Paul, for finding Dylan's version and to Eric for adding it to the play list.  It's hard to describe the depth of my disappointment with Nelson over these past months at what I can only call profiteering.  I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was just the same.  It's sad because since then, if a Willie song comes on, I change the channel.  And I'm learning to play guitar and I'm avoiding him like the plague.  I don't need to know anything he did.  So, I hope you're happy with your legacy, Wille.  It's not Farm Aid I'll be remembering you for, sadly.

[ifyoucantfixit]

   I always loved Willie.  I had downloaded my four disc set of music, onto my
computer.  I have gone through and deleated them all.  Never again will I have
to listen to a man, that places the dollar above honor.

[Katie77]

I've missed something......what did Willlie Nelson do or say?

[southendmd]

I've missed something......what did Willlie Nelson do or say?

Take a look here, Sue:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,36828.0.html

[Brown Eyes]

Thanks, Paul, for finding Dylan's version and to Eric for adding it to the play list.  It's hard to describe the depth of my disappointment with Nelson over these past months at what I can only call profiteering.  I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was just the same.  It's sad because since then, if a Willie song comes on, I change the channel.  And I'm learning to play guitar and I'm avoiding him like the plague.  I don't need to know anything he did.  So, I hope you're happy with your legacy, Wille.  It's not Farm Aid I'll be remembering you for, sadly.

Lynne, I very much agree with you.  The situation makes me so sad on numerous levels.  It also mars my experience of my BBM soundtrack CD.  I've loved that CD for so long, but it's very disheartening to have that Nelson song there at this point.

I've added this version to the BBM Radio playlist... 

Good idea Eric!  It's Dylan's song anyway, so I think it's a great idea to go back to the original.  It's nice that there is another version to turn to.

[southendmd]

I'll confess:  I never liked Willie anyway.  "To all the girls I've loved before" and "Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys" always grated on my nerves.  "You were always on my mind" could make me run from the room.  

I tolerated him on the BBM soundtrack, but I secretly skipped over his song every time.  

The one thing I liked him for, was writing Patsy Cline's "Crazy".  

I've never been sure if Dylan wrote the song, as many sources cite it as "Traditional", some suggest that Dylan arranged an older, traditional folk song.  

Nanci Griffith has a less dirge-like version on her "Other Voices, Too" album.  

[southendmd]

A little research suggests that "He Was a Friend of Mine" is closely related to an older folk song called "Shorty George".  

The first line goes "Well-a Shorty George, he ain't no friend of mine", and was collected by the Lomax brothers as early as the 1930s.  Apparently, there are several versions by Ledbelly.  Another goes, "Well it's Shorty George, he died on the road."

I'll see if I can dig up an early recording somewhere...

[southendmd]

I found a version of the lyrics. Obviously, like many folk songs, it's changed a lot over the decades.  Note the red(!)

Well-a Shorty George, he ain't no friend of mine
Well-a Shorty George, he ain't no friend of mine
He's taken all the women and left the men behind

Well-a Shorty George, he done been here and gone
Yes, Shorty George, he done been here and gone
Lord he left many a poor man a great long way from home

Well my baby caught the Katy, I caught the Santa Fee
Well she caught the Katy, I caught the Santa Fee
Well, you can't quit me, baby, can't you see

Well I went to Galveston, work on the Mallory Line
Went to Galveston, Lord on the Mallory Line
Babe you can't quit me, ain't no use tryin'

Shorty George, travelin' through the land
Shorty George, he's travelin' through the land
Always looking to pick some woman's poor man

When I get back to Dallas, I'm gonna walk and tell
When I get back to Dallas, gonna walk and tell
That the Fort Bend Bottom is a burning hell

One source notes that "Shorty George" referred to the train that took visitors to and from the state penitentiary.

[Katie77]

Take a look here, Sue:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,36828.0.html

When I first started reading this thread, I stopped listening to the original song as soon as I heard "that shit aint right".....

Now Ive read through all the posts here, (including all the way "off topic" ones), and now Ive just listened to Willie Nelson's version.

For what its worth I do not think the song is homophobic, but the more I listen to it, I think when Willie is referring to "that shit aint right", I think he is saying....all cow herders and sheep herders dont do what was done on Brokeback Mountain...I think when he says "that shit aint RIGHT"...I think he means "that story is not CORRECT about all herders"......(and not meaning it is WRONG)....

The saving grace in the song is "what you do is your own business".

It would be assumed that a lot of cowboys who do herding and ranching would probably have been the butt of a lot of jokes since Brokeback Mountain, and I think the song is a rebuff to all those sniggers and misconceptions, by telling us that cowboy work is dirty and dusty, long hours from dusk till dawn, it is not representing the majority of  cowboys CORRECTLY in Brokeback Mountain, hence the phrase "that shit aint right".

Just by using the "what you do is your own business" takes the homophobia away from the song, even the "then fuck off" is saying, I dont care what you do, its your business, but Im not interested.

As far as the ketchup bottle on the original song....well, that has nothing to do with Willie Nelson.

[southendmd]

From The American book of the Dead:  the definitive Grateful Dead encyclopedia:

The origins of the mournful "He Was a Friend of Mine" are somewhat curious. The song was recorded for, but not included on, Bob Dylan's Columbia debut album Bob Dylan.  But when he was interviewed by Robert Shelton for the liner notes to the record, Dylan mentioned his own version was an adaptation of a song he'd learned from a Chicago street singer named Blind Arvella Gray.  Supporting this is the original copyright filed by Dylan that indicates it is a traditional composition with supplemental lyrics.

Elsewhere it is reported that the source is a traditional Southern prison song entitled "Shorty George", which was recorded by Ledbelly in 1935 and by some penitentiary singers for the Library of Congress (1939).  It was from those Library of Congress cuts that Erik Von Schmidt taught himself the tune.  Von Schmidt, an early influence on, and colleague of Dylan's, claimed credit for teaching the song to Dylan.

Despite the fact that "He Was a Friend of Mine" didn't make it onto Dylan's first album, he did perform it often in Greenwich Village folk clubs.  In turn, his version was adopted as a standard by other local folkies, including Dave Van Ronk, who included his own recasting of the song on his 1963 LP......Later the Byrds recorded its most famous release in 1966 as a tribute to the late President Kennedy.

The Dead's ragged but right performances of "He Was a Friend of Mine" in the late 1960s have an air of distinct personal loss about them and fit right in with the death-themed songs that were a constant aspect of their concert performances.

[Lynne]

Thanks for doing all this research, Paul.  It's fascinating to learn the etymology(?) of a song, isn't it?  I'm just glad it's not a WN original.  Between Dylan and the Dead, there is likely no shortage of appropriate versions.

[southendmd]

A little research suggests that "He Was a Friend of Mine" is closely related to an older folk song called "Shorty George".  

The first line goes "Well-a Shorty George, he ain't no friend of mine", and was collected by the Lomax brothers as early as the 1930s.  Apparently, there are several versions by Ledbelly.  Another goes, "Well it's Shorty George, he died on the road."

I'll see if I can dig up an early recording somewhere...

Here's a 1939 version of "Shorty George" that very closely resembles "He Was a Friend of Mine" in structure, and several lines are the same.  It's an old recording and takes some patience to listen to.

{Recorded in the dormitory of Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Tx. April 16, 1939 by The Library of Congress.}


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35NQkumxbfo[/youtube]

[Ellemeno]

Thanks Paul!

[Marge_Innavera]

I'll confess:  I never liked Willie anyway.  "To all the girls I've loved before" and "Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys" always grated on my nerves.  "You were always on my mind" could make me run from the room.  

It's interesting how different things start to seem as you get older.  When I was young "You were always on my mind" wasn't exactly my favorite song but when I was in the mood I thought the lyrics were rather touching.  Today, whenever I hear it, I think "what a bum!  That woman should've dumped his ass years ago."  

[Marge_Innavera]

The saving grace in the song is "what you do is your own business".

On the other hand, it could just be a rephrasing of one we've all heard, to-wit:

"I've nothing against anyone being hoe-moe-sekshull as long as they don't flaunt it."

[southendmd]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzn8wxs9sI[/youtube]

Bumping this thread. 

I think Bob's harmonica playing is similar to what Jake did in the film. 

[southendmd]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=754sRFIHIrA[/youtube]

Some different lyrics on Dave Van Ronk's version. 

[southendmd]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnXQfnvqPo[/youtube]

The Byrds:  "...his killing had no purpose, no reason or rhyme".  For JFK.

[southendmd]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn7dFz-AuYE[/youtube]

An interesting version with "Dian and the Greenbriar Boys".

[southendmd]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svCtvyIV9wY[/youtube]

An elderly Dave Von Ronk with the wonderful Nanci Griffith.  Starts around 2:20

[Jeff Wrangler]

I think Bob's harmonica playing is similar to what Jake did in the film. 

Before or after the mare got lucky? 

[Sason]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzn8wxs9sI[/youtube]

Bumping this thread. 

I think Bob's harmonica playing is similar to what Jake did in the film. 

Maybe so. But Bob does it better than Jake. 

[milomorris]

Thanks for posting these. I wish folk music was recorded more often. Although I must say that I enjoy going to gritty little bars to hear it performed live.